No deal for BA cabin crew as fresh strike begins
Sunday, 30 May 2010 12:00 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
The British Airways dispute over pay and job conditions entered the second of three five-day strikes today as cabin crew walked out again.
There are no signs of the clash being resolved as talks failed to result in a deal being reached. Members of the Unite union will walk out again from June 5th, coinciding with the school half-term, if a deal is not reached.
Unite is prepared to end the strike if BA restores travel perks to staff members who walked out in March.
Derek Simpson, Unite's joint leader, said of BA boss Willie Walsh after negotiations finished unsuccessfully on Friday: "He has refused to reinstate travel concessions in full despite Unite making it clear that the union would suspend the strike if he did so.
"It would cost BA nothing to reinstate these travel concessions yet Willie Walsh is prepared to see the strike continue, putting the travel plans of thousands of passengers at risk and costing BA over £100 million over the course of this dispute.
"Unite have made it absolutely clear that we remain available at any time day or night to meet again with the company."
The union claims BA has already lost £84 million as a result of the clash. But BA said it would increase the number of its unaffected flights to 70% for long-haul destinations and 55% for short-haul destinations.
A spokeswoman for the airline said: "All flights will operate at Gatwick and London City over the weekend.
"The knock-on impact at Heathrow is far less than anticipated, due to the numbers of cabin crew who came to work as normal over the past week."
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